


Forces Unseen: Extras

by oneprotagonistshort



Series: Forces Unseen [2]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 21:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16146296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneprotagonistshort/pseuds/oneprotagonistshort
Summary: Deleted scenes and extras from Forces Unseen including scenes from Dirk's POV.





	1. Dirk's POV - Kissing In The Woods

**Author's Note:**

> as promised! this is a companion piece to [Forces Unseen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155822/chapters/35147174) so read that first! stay tuned here or on my [fic blog](http://oneprotagonistshort.tumblr.com) for updates!

“Adrienne,” Dirk said, snapping as many pictures as he could from every possible angle. “I’m pretty sure she has some kind of software that can make sense of this.” She’d been working on it as long as Dirk had known her, perfecting it so she could find and enhance carvings in stone. Hopefully she’d be able to find something.

He stood up, satisfied with the pictures he’d taken, and heard a rustling in the woods to his left. A million possibilities flashed through his head; animal, hiker, wind, any number of natural causes for noise in the woods. Still, something tugged at his gut. Danger.

“Do you hear that?” he whispered, hyper-alert for any more noise or movement.

Todd looked confused, but before he could say anything Dirk felt the tug of danger again. They weren’t supposed to be there and whoever, whatever, was coming would know it. They were obviously snooping and Dirk had a feeling that it would be very, very bad if they were caught. It wasn’t like ruined Puritan settlements were in the tourism brochures, and they had no other reason to be there. Unless-

It was a split-second decision, and Dirk didn’t even have time to think about the potential repercussions. He just said, “I’m sorry about this,” and shoved Todd up against the nearest tree. He had just enough time to register the confusion on Todd’s face before leaning in and kissing him.

He’d expected awkwardness at best, outright rejection at worst, but Todd leaned into it immediately. The hand Todd wrapped around the back of his neck felt natural, not staged. Under different circumstances Dirk might have even been able to pretend it was real.

Unfortunately, the current circumstances involved Rowen emerging from the woods just in time to ruin everything. They exchanged awkward laughter and discussed her thesis, but Dirk still had that unsettling feeling of danger.

“Right,” he said, wanting to leave as soon as possible. “Well, we’ll be going so you can get to it. Martha packed lunch and we wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”

If Rowen said anything they didn’t hear it, because Dirk grabbed Todd’s hand and pulled them out of the clearing before they could even exchange goodbyes. His heart was thumping against his sternum in a strange sort of panic; he couldn’t tell if it was the narrowly-avoided danger or the fact that Todd didn’t let go of his hand until he got into the car.

Dirk’s lips were still tingling when he got behind the wheel of the Jeep. It was starting to sink in that he’d made a colossal mistake. He didn’t say anything and just drove, taking turns when he felt like it without paying any attention to where they actually were. He knew now what it was like to kiss Todd, and that was something he could never unknow, even if he wanted to. He didn’t want to.

He was starting to feel like the whole operation was a bad idea. It had seemed simple and straightforward at first. Easy. He should have known that nothing in his life was ever that simple, and shouldn’t have let himself believe that his lingering crush wasn’t going to be a problem. Obviously he’d been very wrong.

The way Todd had kissed him back had been almost overwhelming, like he’d been acting out of instinct instead of fear of being discovered. He could still feel the ghost of Todd’s hand wrapped around his neck and the way it had seemed almost like a reflex. _Maybe,_ Dirk thought, _maybe—_

No. Dirk pulled into a campsite and parked the car. Thoughts like that ended in heartbreak and ruined friendships. He grabbed their lunch bags from the back and opened his. It was some kind of bacon, apple, and cheddar sandwich, which obviously was amazing. He chewed thoughtfully for a minute or two, afraid for maybe the first time in his life to speak without thinking.

Ultimately the truth was hard to accept but inescapable. The kiss had been a mistake, and even though Todd had rolled with it, it was meaningless. Rowen had seen them kissing, so there was no way to go back on their cover now. Rowen–

Rowen. She was dangerous, he knew it.

“I don’t like her,” Dirk finally let himself admit, aware that he hadn’t said anything in quite some time.

“Who, Rowen?” Todd asked, obviously not feeling the same danger Dirk did. “She’s nice, probably harmless.”

“Even people who are mostly harmless can be dangerous,” Dirk said. He was starting to second-guess himself. Maybe the uneasiness came from jealousy, not danger. He’d been trying to pretend he wasn’t _that_ far gone for Todd, but maybe he was. “Besides, you just like her because she’s infatuated with you.”

He wasn’t sure if he was expecting confirmation or denial, but he got neither. Todd just opened his lunch and laughed. They chatted about the case for a bit and traded cookies before heading back to the inn, and Dirk felt like he had more questions than answers.

*

They set up downstairs and Dirk typed up the email to Adrienne while the images uploaded. Confident that Todd wouldn’t understand the French, he added a quick note at the bottom.

_I wasn’t careful,_ it said. _No one has burned me alive yet but I’m afraid this is worse. I have feelings for Todd, and it’s causing problems. I feel like I can’t trust my gut because I don’t know if I’m acting out of instinct or jealousy. I can’t work without my instincts. If you have any advice to offer, unfortunately now is the time._

When Todd asked for his flash drive, Dirk hit send on the email and handed over the computer. His own flash drive was almost full of episodes of The Great British Bake Off, so Todd’s was probably the better one to use.

“Here you go _darling,_ ” he said, hoping the joking, over-exaggerated tone would make it less real.

“Thanks babe,” Todd said, clearly responding automatically without thinking about it. Not exaggerating. Not joking. Natural.

Dirk froze where he was sitting, heart in his throat, wishing desperately that they’d never started this and wondering if that was what Todd would sound like if they were together. He needed to stop using the word “together.” It wasn’t going to happen.

Todd cleared his throat awkwardly, staring determinedly at the computer screen. They didn’t talk about it again.


	2. Dirk's POV: Kissing At The Inn

When Todd walked into the drawing room, what he was carrying was decidedly not snacks. Dirk had expected apple chips, but Todd was holding two glasses full of something Dirk assumed contained quite a lot of alcohol.

“Sangria?” Todd asked, confirming Dirk’s suspicions.

Dirk didn’t drink often; in the rare instances that he did go to bars he was working, alone, or with strangers. He was always just a little bit afraid he’d end up drugged or passed out somewhere unsavoury or in a bathtub in a shady motel without a kidney. 

Todd wouldn’t steal his kidney.

“Absolutely,” Dirk said, taking the glass, excited for the opportunity to get properly drunk. At the very least, it would be a good distraction from everything else that was going on. He figured he’d probably earned it.

They both took a drink and at the same time said, “Oh my god.” The sangria was sweet and smooth and Dirk wondered if it had been made with him specifically in mind. 

“It tastes like caramel apples,” he said. “How? I don’t understand.”

Todd agreed, suggesting that Martha had some kind of kitchen magic. Dirk had to concede, drinking more before pulling up the email from Adrienne.

“I’m afraid it’s not very encouraging,” Dirk said, scanning the email again.

“What does it say?” Todd asked, reminding Dirk that he didn’t speak French.

“Dear Dirk,” he translated. “These pictures are shit and I’m almost insulted you sent them to me. Next time I see you I’m going to hit you and teach you when you should and should not use flash.”

Todd snickered and Dirk kept reading, pointedly not translating the last paragraph. Todd would never know, and it was personal.

_I was afraid this would happen,_ Adrienne had written. _You trust too easily, and I had a feeling that you trust Todd too much. I’m not saying you should shut him out, but guard your heart. If you take this too far there might not be a way back._

Todd already looked disappointed and the vague, indecipherable pictures didn’t help matters any. His shoulders sagged, and Dirk frowned at the computer, hoping that if he looked put out enough it would give him the answers he wanted.

Todd noticed, and even if he didn’t know the real reason Dirk felt let down, he seemed to catch on. “Hey,” he said, “it’s still technically our day off. We’ll deal with that in the morning, tonight let’s just get wasted on the most New England drink I’ve ever had.”

Dirk’s eyes lit up, and completely ignoring Adrienne’s advice, he picked up his glass and drained it. The impressed look on Todd’s face was worth the burning in the back of his throat.

*

The sangria went quickly. Dirk felt like he was floating, laid out on the couch next to Todd. His limbs were loose and his head was fuzzy, but when Todd brought doughnuts and whiskey up from the basement, he gladly accepted both. Todd sat down closer than was strictly necessary, and Dirk’s arm tingled where their shoulders touched.

“You know what’s curious?” he asked, speaking slowly because he didn’t quite trust his mouth to make the right noises.

“George?” Todd asked, giving up on their glasses and drinking straight from the bottle of whiskey.

Dirk snorted, accepting the bottle from Todd and taking a swig. “ _No,_ ” he said, trying and failing to sound annoyed. “I saw a rabbit earlier, it made me think of you chasing that bunny through a field because you thought it was me.”

Todd chuckled. “Yep, I did that,” he said. “I found you though.”

“Yeah,” Dirk said softly, “that you did.”

Perhaps sensing a shift in the mood, Todd said, “Hey, check this out, I’ve been working on an impression of Vogel.”

Dirk laughed until he cried.

*

At some point well after the fuzziness in Dirk’s head had amplified tenfold, Todd took Dirk’s glasses off and put them on himself.

“You should wear these more,” he said. “It’s a good look for you.”

Dirk vowed to himself that he would never take them off again as soon as Todd put them back on his face. Before he knew what was happening, the whiskey had been taken away and Todd’s head was on his shoulder.

“You know,” Dirk said lazily, “I don’t think I’ve ever been this drunk in my entire life.” Todd of course had a hilarious story about Cinco de Mayo and St. Louis. “I can’t say I’ve ever felt any particular need to go to St. Louis,” Dirk said, “but I can see why spies use alcohol to get information from people. You could ask me literally any question right now and I’d tell the truth.”

Dirk wasn’t sure where he was going with the admission of honesty, all he knew was that he was hoping to prompt Todd into a conversation that might go his way. Luck wasn’t on his side though, and even though Todd’s eyes had gone distant for a second, all Dirk got out of him was a crack about ice cream. He responded in turn without paying much attention to the exchange.

Eventually Dirk couldn’t stand it anymore. “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked, feeling brave, or maybe just drunk, or both. He was fully prepared to say, _I like this pretending. We should try it for real._ He didn’t get a chance to say anything though, because a car pulled into the lot before he could say anything else.

Rowen.

A surge of possessiveness unlike anything he’d ever felt washed over him, and before Dirk could even register what he was doing, he was in Todd’s lap. The kiss he planted on Todd was hard, territorial, and Dirk knew it was pretty much out of nowhere. He wanted more, though. He couldn’t let it go. This was exactly what he’d been trying to avoid; the heartbreak of having Todd like this without any actual feelings underneath. It was empty, basically meaningless, but he couldn’t find the strength to pull away.

It made him weak, but he would let himself have this. Just this once.

Todd looked stunned underneath him, but not appalled. Dirk whispered something about their cover, a flimsy excuse that Todd would see right through, but then Todd kissed him back and Dirk couldn’t think about anything else.

He couldn’t bring himself to touch Todd’s face like he wanted to, that was somehow too intimate and even as drunk as he was, Dirk tried to stay at least a little detached. He settled instead on draping his arm across Todd’s shoulders and bracing himself against the loveseat. Todd led the way as they kissed, and Dirk could almost pretend it was real. He was a coward, hiding behind alcohol and the case, but for just this moment he let himself feel what he’d been missing for so long.

Todd pulled him in like he meant it, a hand on Dirk’s waist and the other running through his hair. When he opened his mouth to suck in a breath, Todd bit down on his lower lip and Dirk was lost. Nothing else existed anymore, just the two of them.

Todd wasn’t stopping so Dirk didn’t either, opening his mouth for Todd’s tongue. His head was spinning, and his lips were tingling, and he felt like he could ignite at any minute. When Todd gripped his hair, Dirk was enveloped in heat. He couldn’t help the gasp that escaped any more than he could help the involuntary shift of his hips forward. He was on fire everywhere they touched, and when Todd pulled back Dirk was almost afraid to look at him.

“Did we miss her?” Todd asked, looking confused. A door had slammed upstairs, unquestionably Rowen.

“I think so,” Dirk said with a sinking feeling in his gut. Todd’s eyes were glazed over and there was no way he was going to remember this in the morning. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”


End file.
